CAA women’s basketball teams have posted a 27-30 record against non-conference foes. Delaware has opened the season with a 6-1 record, while James Madison (5-2) and Northeastern (4-2) have each lost just to games.

Delaware rolled with a pair of victories at the UCF Thanksgiving Tournament and the Blue Hens were led by Kelsey Buchanan, who earned her second CAA Player of the Week honors after averaging 18.0 ppg and 7.0 rpg for UD. Drexel, who suffered a tough come-from-behind loss to #8 Maryland in College Park last Monday, was led by freshman guard Alexis Smith. She received CAA Rookie of the Week honors for the second time this season after leading the Dragons with a career- and team-best 19 points and added five rebounds and four assists. Smith scored her 19 points on 9-of-16 shooting (.563) from the floor, and her nine made field goals were the most by a Drexel player in any game this far this season. Read about these award winners on CAASports.com.

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Allstate Insurance Company announced the 202 nominees for the 2014 Allstate WBCA and NABC Good Works Teams®. Delaware’s Kelsey Buchanan was nominated as a representative of the CAA. The award recognizes a select group of college basketball student-athletes who have made significant contributions to the greater good of their communities through volunteerism and civic service. Nominees are submitted by coaches and sports information directors across the nation on behalf of their schools, special voting panels will select two 10-member teams comprised of five student-athletes from the NCAA® Division I level and five student-athletes from NCAA® Divisions II, III and the NAIA. The final roster of 20 award recipients will be unveiled in February.

Leading the league in scoring is Northeastern’s A’lece Mark leads the CAA scoring 19.7 points per game, while UNCW’s Kelva Atkins is averaging 19.3 ppg and JMU’s Kirby Burkholder is pouring in 19.0 ppg. Towson’s Tanisha McTiller is ranked fourth among the league leaders adding 17.7 points per game. Delaware’s Kelsey Buchanan (16.7 ppg) is ranked fifth among the league’s top scorers.

Northeastern’s Jewel Tunstull (10.3 rpg) leads the CAA averaging double-digit rebounds after six contests. College of Charleston’s Afreyea Tolbert is grabbing 9.2 rpg and McTiller is pulling down 9.0 rebounds per outing. Buchanan and Burkholder fill out the league’s top five rebounders ranked fourth with 8.7 boards per contest.

College of Charleston’s Jill Brown is averaging a league-best 6.7 assists per game. Hofstra’s Andreana Thomas follows with 6.4 helpers per game and Towson’s Dominique Johnson is ranked third dishing out 4.7 apg. Filling out the top five in assists is JMU’s Angela Mickens (4.6 apg) and UNCW’s Atkins (4.1 apg).

James Madison, which received votes in the AP Poll for four weeks but didn’t receive any this week, earned five votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll. JMU’s last appearance in the AP Poll, before this season’s run, was in the final poll of the 2010-11 season when they received one vote. During the 2009-10 season, the Dukes appeared in the AP Poll for seven straight weeks (either receiving votes or being ranked as high as No. 24 on Dec. 14, 2009).

Around the League – Did You Knows…

College of Charleston: Senior point guard Jill Brown led the team with six assists, moving within five assists of breaking the program record (460).

Delaware: The Blue Hens held SIUE to just 8.3% (2-for-24) shooting from the field in the 1st half, but allowed nine FT en route to a 20-15 lead at halftime. The last time UD held an opponent to single figure FG% game on Jan. 10, 2013 when George Mason made just eight FG.

Drexel: Monday’s game versus Maryland was the first against a top-10 team for Drexel since December 28, 2010, a 74-45 loss against then-No. 5 Texas A&M.

Hofstra: Andreana Thomas has dished out 32 helpers on the season, ranking among the top CAA leaders (6.4 apg).

James Madison: Senior Kirby Burkholder led the Dukes with 18.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg. She also added five assists and three steals to be named to the All-Tournament team. She surpassed the 1,100-point plateau against MSU. Burkholder has scored 20+ points five times this season, including the UCLA and WSU games.

UNCW: Junior Kelva Atkins poured in 21.0 points per game in the three outings and led the team with 16 assists and nine steals. The junior guard established a new career high with seven assists in the tournament finale against Iowa. She has reached double figures in points for the eighth time this season and 14th straight contest dating back to the end of last season.

Northeastern: Kazzidy Stewart led Northeastern in scoring for the first time in her career, notching a career-best 25 points. The sophomore is the only current Husky to have landed more than four shots from beyond the arc in a single game after sinking five 3-pointers to mark another career-best. Stewart added to her well-rounded performance with eight rebounds, four steals and an assist.

Towson: Redshirt senior forward Nyree Williams’ block early in the second half gave her eight for the season and 100 for her career. She is the fifth player in school history to record at least 100 rebounds in her career.

William & Mary: Four players averaged double figure points for the Tribe at the Maine Tournament, led by Marlena Tremba and Jazmen Boone – both putting in 13.0 ppg. Boone scored a career-high 24 points against UMass.

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